A new member seeking collaboration

[Howard ScottParticipant]

Hello! I am very happy to be admitted to this community. I am a UK based doctorate student (and teacher) and am looking for collaborators for my research. I am part of a Technology Enhanced Learning research department with the University of Hull, UK. My research is looking at the potential of educational social network sites (such as http://www.edmodo.com) to act as communal learning spaces. I have 6 project groups of varying ages and academic level based in the Further Education sector here in the UK (post-16 -which is vocational and pre-university study, generally).

I am looking for participants who might be interested in participating in ‘Design based research’ – that is, others in the field who are interested to steer some of the activity within the social learning space, based on promoting a cohesive ‘Community of Inquiry’ around Dr Garrison’s model. Of course, there are also learning objectives for the students of the project, which fit with the UK national curriculum for English as a syllabus subject and this will be the primary focus. My intention is to show whether in isolated incidents, social network group and individual curatorship of learning resources leads to increased engagement and independent approaches for self-study.

If I may interest anyone or clarify anything, please post responses or contact me directly. I am keen to take an active role in this site and to work towards finding evidence for empirical inquiry.

 

 

 

[Marguerite KooleKey Master]

Hi Howard,

Could you explain a little more about what kind of participation you’re looking for? Co-researchers? Participants?

Marguerite

[Howard ScottParticipant]

Thank you for your reply and sorry for the delay in responding. My PhD research project looks to integrate situated learning spaces with the dual concepts of social networks and the Community of Inquiry model to raise engagement with disenfranchised students. I am interested in ways of negotiating social presence with the cognitive presence, driven by the English Language qualification curriculum in the UK. I would be interested in any feasible and pragmatic ways that a successful community of inquiry can flourish. I have endeavoured to establish successful online meeting points to support classroom teaching and learning, but something is amiss. I understand learner disengagement (being a teacher!), but am curious about ways of promoting independent approaches effectively. When learners are obliged to participate, it often results in a resistance or resilience to using the platforms where the community is situated. Beyond expectations of use, how have other members found ways to enhance use and participation to create successful autodidactic learning? One potential I feel is in giving students opportunities to curate spaces based on informal learning interests – but this results in a fragmented focus of community targets and outcomes. Really, I am interested in tangible and practical strategies for encouraging community of inquiry members..

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